Sorrow
by Starsinger
Summary: What if Spock wasn't the only one Scotty summoned that day in the Engine Room? Because I hate stories with sad endings.
1. Chapter 1

**Sorrow**

by Starsinger

**Sorry, this is what happens when my brain is bored, at work. What if Spock wasn't the only one Scotty called to come see Kirk. What if he'd called Bones as well. Don't own any of them.**

"Engineering to Sickbay," Scotty said sounding sad.

"Sickbay here," McCoy responded. He sounded frazzled. Casualties were still coming in.

"Ye'd better get down here, Doctor, hurry Bones," Scotty's use of the nickname only Jim used made McCoy's heart clench. Something was terribly, desperately wrong. His headlong dash into Engineering was just behind Spock. Spock looked at Scotty, who was white, his mouth pinched.

"Open it," Spock commanded. The look of panic on his face stunned McCoy.

"I cannae do tha', sir. You'll flood the whole compartment with radiation," Scotty said barely glancing over at McCoy. McCoy shook his head, unable to comprehend what was going on. Then, he heard it. Heavy breathing on the other side of the barrier. Some poor bastard was behind it, dying. He watched as Spock dropped into a crouch. McCoy approached Spock trying to figure out who it was. Then, he saw it, Jim. Pain etched in his face. Breathing coming in gasps as he reached up and pulled the lever closing the outside door.

McCoy reached for his communicator, "McCoy to Sickbay."

"Sickbay here," M'benga responded.

"Come up to Engineering, bring a gurney and a…and a…body bag," he forced himself to say.

"Yes, sir," M'benga responded.

McCoy crouched right beside Spock as Kirk squinted up at them. The professional detached part of him noted the symptoms: yellowing skin and eyes, liver failure, labored breathing, respiratory failure, coughing, fluid filling the lungs as well as a futile attempt by Jim's body to rid itself of the fluid buildup caused by the poison. McCoy's desire was to reach in and ease the pain, ease the passing, but all he could do was crouch here and helplessly watch his Captain die.

"How's the ship?" he asked, peering up at his best friends.

"Out of danger," McCoy heard Spock reply. He was as emotional as he'd ever heard Spock. "You saved the ship, you saved us all."

"You used what he wanted against him, nice move," Kirk said. Kirk coughed again.

The conversation continued until Kirk looked at Bones, "Take care of each other. I'm sorry…I'm sorry I won't be there to see the great adventure," Kirk picked up his hand and put it on the glass. McCoy couldn't even fathom the effort is must have taken him. Spock responded by putting his own hand there in the Vulcan salute as McCoy also put his hand on it. Kirk tried to emulate Spock before looking at McCoy and Spock with a smile.

Then, he was gone. His eyes turned away and stared straight ahead. His hand slipped from the door. McCoy's tears ran down his face, unable to stop them. Spock looked at the ground beneath them. "Khaaaaaan!" ripped from his throat. The anguish and terrible hate contained in that cry made the ship seem to tremble.

They both crouched there, waiting. McCoy heard M'benga arrive and his team unzip the body bag, laying it on the floor. It was all a waiting game now, waiting for Scotty to open the door so they could get their friend. No, the body of their friend. Their friend wasn't there anymore.

Scotty announced that he was about to open the door. Spock and McCoy looked at each other in perfect understanding. The door slid open and they went in. Spock put his arms under Kirk's shoulders while McCoy picked up his feet. Together, they carried Jim's body to the body bag. The carefully inserted him into it. Not bothering to fight back the tears, McCoy reached out and closed Jim's empty eyes. Spock closed the top of the bag and they lifted it onto the gurney. Then Spock took off at a run as Scotty and McCoy followed the gurney back to Sickbay.

There was no day more terrible in McCoy's mind than the one where he lost his best friend.

**We know how this ended, no need for me to recap. I'll be posting a new chapter of A Long Road soon, need a nap.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope**

by Starsinger

**I lied, here I go again. While making Jim allergic to everything can be well done as a plot device, I've seen it well done, I think it's a tad bit overdone. So, Jim isn't allergic to everything here. Don't own them.**

It had been twelve hours since he watched his best friend die. Twelve hours since he watched a dead Tribble purr its way back to life. And twelve hours since he and Jim came down to this hospital and he had put Jim on full life-support believing that Khan's blood would bring his best friend back to life. And twelve hours since he'd given Jim twenty-four hours to come back to them.

Moonlight flooded the room making Jim's face even more washed out than it had appeared before. All he heard was the whir of machines keeping Jim's body functioning. It provided everything that Jim's heart and lungs were still refusing to do. He was grateful to Scotty, he, at least, had been able to say good-bye. He looked around the quiet room. They were all here, Chekov, Sulu, Spock, Scotty, and Uhura. They were here just in case. No one wanted to pass up the opportunity if the time came to say good-bye again.

McCoy's mind went through all the times he and Kirk shared. Him throwing up in Jim's lap on the shuttle ride to San Francisco. Jim helping him study. Getting him aboard the Enterprise. Finding out he was allergic to the vaccine. Funny, Jim hadn't been allergic to ANYTHING up until the point. While many cadets were sniffling and sneezing, he'd been as healthy as a horse.

McCoy sighed and stood, he walked over to the window and continued to watch the moon rise. He refused to believe that Jim would choose to remain dead. The twenty four hours weren't up yet. He looked around the room. They all watched Jim, all wondering if they would ever have their friend back. McCoy simply didn't know. None of them did.

Then, there was suddenly a new noise. McCoy's heart started to race as Jim took in a deep gasping breath of air. Everyone was on their feet as the heart monitor lurched to life, and Kirk coughed. McCoy closed his eyes and called for a nurse. He pressed a stethoscope to Jim's chest, just to be sure. There it was, weak and a tad bit thread, Jim's heart was beating. The nurse was a wonder as she disconnected the life support and they watched what happened. The heartbeat became stronger and even, more defiant. He nodded his thanks.

"Okay everybody, he's alive. All we can do is take it day by day," he announced. Then, he sat back in his chair and wept like a child. His best friend, whom he lost hours before. The one he couldn't do anything for, was back, and by God he was going to stay that way.

**I seemed to put a few people in tears with that last stand alone fic. Thank you for your comments.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Joy**

by Starsinger

**Nope, don't own them.**

It was amazing what a difference a year could bring. McCoy stood on the bridge of the Enterprise. They were ready. The ship was fixed, and her Captain… McCoy turned to the sound of the doors opening to see Jim, his energetic and purposeful stride back, head back to the command chair that many thought he would never occupy again. "Come on Bones, it'll be **fun**."

"Sure, five years in space," McCoy grumbled, but that was expected to happen. McCoy was expected to be grumpy.

The past year had brought Kirk from a death, to an even more entertaining scene as he yelled at cadets from the wheelchair he was forced to use because he still couldn't walk very well. The first time he and Spock put cadets through the Kobayashi Maru had been very entertaining. Kirk had an imagination a mile wide, and while the simulation went as expected, the ship didn't just blow up. Klingons boarded and sabotaged systems while tribbles ran amok.

Kirk hated tribbles, but it was funny to watch a swarm of tribbles "hit" the engine room. Starfleet finally did give Kirk a commendation for original thinking on that one. Kirk had programmed it so any number of variables could happen, and, if the cadet caught on quickly enough, they could actually beat the system without sleeping with an Orion to get the program rewritten.

The most entertainment came from the fact that Kirk had stopped chasing women. He became more focused, and one woman had become focused on him, and he didn't seem to mind. Dr. Carol Marcus started seeing him on the side. She knew his history, and took everything he did in stride. He wasn't going to change, she knew that, but somehow she became a stabilizing force in his life. One that he really hadn't had before. As far as anyone knew, they hadn't slept together.

Spock and Uhura still shared private smiles, and Uhura left off arguing, finally, in front of Kirk. Jim was grateful, that finger could be dangerous to a bed bound patient. Sulu was ready, Chekov grinned, Scotty announced that the engines were purring like a kitten. It was time. "Let's see what's out there," Kirk said with a grin just before they left Earth far behind on the great lady the Enterprise always would be.


End file.
